O'Neill grad Wagner leads Mayakoba

Sunday

Feb 27, 2011 at 2:00 AM

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico — Johnson Wagner moved into contention for his second PGA Tour title, shooting a 6-under 65 on Saturday for a one-stroke lead over Chris Stroud after the third round of the Mayakoba Golf Classic.

The Associated Press

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico — Johnson Wagner moved into contention for his second PGA Tour title, shooting a 6-under 65 on Saturday for a one-stroke lead over Chris Stroud after the third round of the Mayakoba Golf Classic.

Wagner, a graduate of James I. O'Neill and the 2008 Houston Open winner, had a 13-under 200 total on the Greg Norman-designed El Camaleon course on the Caribbean coast.

"It looks like there's a lot of people on the leaderboard within a few shots, so you can't be looking at the leaderboard thinking, 'OK, I've got to stay ahead of these people,'" Wagner said. "I have to go out and make birdies and try to play the same kind of rounds that I've played the last two days."

The former Virginia Tech player dropped a stroke on the par-5 fifth, then eagled the par-5 eighth and birdied the ninth. He also birdied Nos. 11-13 and 16.

"We had a rain delay, which helped me quite a bit to calm down and slow down a bit," Wagner said. "And then I started playing great, chipped in for eagle on eight, hit it close on nine for birdie and just seemed like I had good birdie putt after good birdie putt on the back nine. They all didn't go in, but a lot of them did."

Stroud, the second-round leader after making eight straight birdies in a 63, followed up with a 70.